problems with carin from a puppy mill

Question
I may have talked to you before.  I adopted a very sweet female Carin 8 months ago.  She is 4 yrs. old and I was told that she had lived in a cage for 4 yrs and just had puppies.  I have really had a hard time house breaking her. I leave my back door open and she comes in and out but will still pee on the carpet(which she has totally ruined) and sometimes pees on the ceramic tile by the front door. I don't want to put her in a cage and I don't want to raise my voice to her.  She is very shy and nervous, but less nervous when I first got her.  She doesn't know how to do a lot of things, like play, and jump up on the bed,and instead of Turing around in a circle 3 times before she lays down she takes her nose and re-arranges all the covers on my bed.  She sleeps as close to me as possible and wants to lick me all the time. which drives me crazy.  She will however wake me up at night to let her out side.  I have to be very quiet around her or she acts like I am going to punish her.  I am always very loving to her and I have a male dog that is a carin mix and they get along great.  He tres to show her how to play with his toys but she just stands there. She would love for me to just hold her all the time.  I try not to treat her differently than my other dog, he is 10 yrs old and very active and playful.

Any suggestions how I can help her relax and just enjoy life.  I live by myself , have a small nice back yard, and she gets lots of attention. She just won't quit peeing in the house.  Also I have never caught her in the act.
Thank you, Sharon

Answer
Sharon

Poor little girl... I currently have 2 puppymill survivors here being fostered so I know exactly what you're going through.

I use a combination of things to housebreak these kids, and one of them always seems to work out.  First off, they are crated when I am not home.  Secondly, I take them outside promptly when I let them out in the morning and again when I get home and again before bed.  Over and above that I take them out every hour or 2 when I am home.

Doing their business outside is a big deal here, and they get lots of praise, and some dogs even need a tiny treat for reinforcement. Some of them are afraid if I act too happy, so very gently walking up and handing them a tiny bit of cheese works better.

And if those patterns are not enough I use a doggie diaper.  They usually hate wearing it, and it is something that they are glad to get out of. With time they seem to learn that if they go outside and not in the house they not only don;t have to wear the panty, but they get treats/praise too.

The licking is probably left over from being a mommy.  Mommy dogs lick their babies a lot, so it's how she knows to show affection.  I used to have a foster who would just wash your face every chance you gave her, and she would lick other dog's ears and faces for hours.  Just some gentle, persistent moving her away from my face ended it... but for a while I let her lick my hand instead of my face, and then cut her off from that too.

The fear takes a long time sometimes.  There's a great article about a vet who is doing a study of the long term mental health effects of puppymills.  It's on the BestFriends.org web page. I'm putting the link below, but it's long so you will have to copy and then paste into your address bar:

http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&fps=1&mode=entry&entry=022EB593-...

Each dog recovers differently, and unfortunately, some never do. I adopted one who never did... She was terribly frightened by the world the remainder of her life - but she came to trust me, and I took that as a great honor from a girlie like her.  here is a link to her story:

http://wall.cairnrescue.com/ppages/adamsmandy.htm

I always tell people that it is patient persistence that works. It takes time and a serious commitment to a kid like this, but with time her heart will heal, and she will learn to love.

The most important thing to remember though - and it was a very hard thing for me to learn - Is that she is now the happiest she has ever been. She does not think "if only," or "what if."  She lives in this very moment and does not wish for more - That wish is yours.  She is the happiest right now that she ever has been and she does not know it could be even better.

Best wishes, and please feel free to keep in touch. Check out the new photo I put on my profile page. It's of my most recent foster dog. She's a doll who spent her 6 yrs in a mill, and is just starting to learn to be a cairn princess.

-Beth